Tom Joyner pledges to pay student loan of deceased son whose mother was hounded by his creditor

Radio personality Tom Joyner (R) presents Song of the Year Award to Tyrese Gibson during the Soul Train Awards 2012 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on November 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. . (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Centric)

Radio personalities Sybil Wilkes, Tom Joyner, and J. Anthony Brown of the Tom Joyner Morning Show speak onstage during the Soul Train Awards 2012 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on November 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. . (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Centric)

Yesterday, we reported on the tragic story of Ella Edwards, the grieving 61-year-old mom who started a Change.org petition to have her deceased son Jermaine’s $10,800 student loan forgiven. Today, we have a great update to this story: Tom Joyner has pledged to pay the loan on Edwards’ behalf. (Thanks again to our Facebook friend EarthyGirls Trapp for helping us keep an eye on this story.)

Edwards appeared this morning on the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” telling listeners about her situation. (A transcript of the show is available on BlackAmericaWeb.com.) Edwards said her son died at the age of 24 of what has been deemed natural causes. There had been a life insurance policy (opened in 1986), but he died on March 9, 2009, six days after the final payment on her policy. So the insurance company refused to pay, she said.

Edwards has been paying the debt, but occasionally, the payment is late. She will call the loan administrators — “The National Co-League Trust First Marblehead out of Boston, Massachusetts,” she said – to give them advanced warning, but they still call to collect.